The world is wonderfully vast and diverse and complicated. It’s also incredibly interconnected and what this ends up meaning is that there are a lot of things going on at any given time and it’s impossible for a single human being to keep up with all of it. You need other people to help you curate those stories and organize them in such a way that you can actually digest the tidbits that interest you.

Following the demise of Google Reader, many people flocked to RSS alternatives to read their daily news and that’s certainly one way of doing things. Maybe you went direct to the source and used some Canadian news apps to keep up with all things Canada. Whatever the case, you’re probably still looking for some of the best apps to read the news on your Android smartphone and tablet. This list is anything but exhaustive, but it does provide you with some unique ways to digest the happenings in the world.

Umano News Reader

Who has time to read the news these days, anyhow? We’re too busy out there posting pictures on Instagram and liking status updates on Facebook. To give your eyes a bit of a rest, the Umano News Reader is an entirely different kind of news app for the Android platform, because the news articles are actually read to you by “real people with amazing voices.” Better still, you can go through the available top news sources, make a playlist, and download those stories for offline listening on the bus or train. Time Magazine even called Umano one of the 50 best Android apps for 2013!

Press (RSS Reader)

Okay, this is just another RSS client for your Android device, but it’s also one of the simplest, cleanest, and most elegant-looking available through the Google Play Store. There are no ads to distract you from the real content, there are widgets that you can place on one of your many homescreens, and you can choose between vertical or horizontal swiping to advance through the articles. The offline reading support means that you don’t necessarily have to be connected to the Internet and the YouTube API support means that videos can play quickly and easily.

Feedly

When Google Reader was laid out to pasture, many people (myself included) migrated our way over to Feedly as an option. Much like Google Reader, your subscriptions and other content can live in the cloud, synchronizing across not only your smartphone or tablet, but also through your computer by way of the Chrome extension. You can go with the more conventional “list” format or there are magazine and more image-focused layouts too. I particularly like the ability to long-tap in order to automatically save a story to Pocket.

BaconReader Premium

Granted, it’s not exactly the most conventional sources for your daily news, but Reddit is unquestionably one of the most popular daily web destinations for many people on the Internet. If something is getting upvoted on Reddit, there’s a good chance that you’ll want to know about it. The app pulls in the news and post links, as well as pics, comments, and everything else from Reddit, so you can conveniently waste your hours away. You get keyword and domain filtering, as well as subreddit grouping and more.

NowThis News

You don’t have time to read the news, right? Whereas Umano simply offered you an audio version of the world’s happenings, NowThis News goes further, because it is the “first and only original 24/7 video-centric news app built for mobile users.” That’s right. The stories you want to follow are presented to you in video format, keeping you up to date in the respective worlds of technology and entertainment. There are 25 original videos each day, plus numerous verticals for politics, viral, food, and other topics. And yes, there’s text for each video if you feel inclined to read something too.

A freelance writer and professional blogger based out of Vancouver, Canada, Michael Kwan focuses primarily in the areas of consumer electronics, entrepreneurship, and personal development. He blogs six times a week at Beyond the Rhetoric. Follow him on Twitter: @michaelkwan